1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to an electrical connector couple having an indication device for indicating mating situation of the connector couple.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional board to board (BTB) connector assembly comprises a first connector and a second connector. Due to space limitation, the configuration of the BTB connector is small and this results in that housing of the BTB connector is fragile, such that when the first and second connectors are mating, inappropriate mating force will damage the connectors. The conventional BTB connector cannot indicate the mating situation of the connectors, so there will be two undesired conditions. One condition is that the connectors have mated completely, but the user does not know and still pushes the BTB connectors together. This may result in damage of contacts and even the housing of the BTB connector. The second condition is that the connectors have not mated completely, but the user does not know and stops pushing the BTB connectors together. This may result in failure of electrical connection between the first and second connectors.
As shown in FIG. 6, a BTB connector assembly or couple comprises a first connector with a first insulative housing 90 and a second connector with a second insulative housing 92. When the first connector is mated with the second connector, sidewalls 96 of the first connector 90 will be pressed into a receiving portion 98 of the second connector 92, then first contacts 94 of the first connector 90 will be pressed against and electrically connected with second contacts 95 of the second connector 92. As the sidewalls and contacts of the BTB connector are fragile and easy to be damaged, when the BTB connector assembly is mated, the user cannot determine whether the connector couple has completely mated, and this can result in the two conditions described above.
Accordingly, a BTB connector couple with mating situation indicating device is desired to overcome the shortcoming of the conventional BTB connector.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector couple having a mating indication device for indicating the mating situation of the connector couple.
To achieve the above object, an electrical connector couple in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a first connector and a second connector. The first connector comprising a first insulative housing having a concave portion, the concave portion defining a second connector mated with the first connector. The second connector comprising a second insulative housing having an island portion, the insulative portion defining a mating indication device comprising a recess defined in the first mating surface, and a spring tab formed correspondingly on the second mating surface, the recess having vertical wall, when the first and second connectors are mated together completely, the spring tab dropping across the vertical wall to hit the recess, thereby making a sound to indicate the completeness of the mating of the first and second connectors.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be drawn from the following detailed description of preferred embodiment of the present invention with attached drawings, in which: